This week I received a question from a reader about how to process an expressive arts activity when it is done, such as the Empty the Jug activity on my Group Activities page. Thank you for this wonderful question that seems to distinguish the two core elements in the work I do. First, there is the client's own content, artwork, personal discoveries or experiences, facilitated through the expressive arts process. Then there is the sharing of that work with a therapist or in a treatment group of peers. I believe that these two ingredients create a powerful synergy that fuels personal transformation. When I first started conducting expressive therapy sessions, I tended to regard the sharing part as the mere display and appreciation of what the client had created. I rarely left enough time for it and would consistently run overtime with the session. I came to realize that sharing and processing the work is equally important to the creation of the work itself and usually requires almost the same amount of time as the experiential segment of the session.

I also realized that sharing can be very intimidating for even the bravest of clients, and that I had to be proactive about setting a tone of nonjudgment. I often find myself repeating phrases like, "You can't do it wrong," and "Please leave your art critic outside the door." I remind my clients that the value of one's expression is determined by how much it means to the person who created it. Sometimes I ask clients to imagine a victim of child abuse taking a black crayon and drawing a stick figure of his abuser locked up in jail. I would then ask my client, "How much value do you think that crayon image has as a piece of art?" Not much. Then I'll ask, "How much value or meaning do you think it would have to that person?" A lot.

A client not only needs protection from criticism, I feel they also need to know that no one is going to dissect their work and analyze it to death. If they have the courage to read or share something they did, the least we can do is honor it and appreciate it wholeheartedly. I often ask questions like, "What stood out for you?" or "What did you notice?" One of my favorite activities for sharing artwork in a group is to have the artist hold up their work, and each person in the room is invited to offer a word or phrase in response. People might use descriptive words like, "colorful" or they can become more poetic like "whispers in my dreams." After hearing all the responses, the artist is invited to give their work a title. For an activity like, "Empty the Jug," the client is always invited to share whatever part of it they would like to share. With that activity in particular, I find that many clients are able to access the predominant themes in their feeling world. Just having the opportunity to share those feelings with someone can be a meaningful experience for someone who may not be used to expressing feelings so directly. Typically I will ask, "What was it like for you to write about those feelings?" When they get to the third layer of the jug, I often ask, "Were there any surprises?" For some, reflecting on painful feelings can be overwhelming, and I have supported many clients who chose to rip up their papers and throw them away as a way to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Ways of processing that activity in an individual session could vary greatly depending on your counseling style and the client's preferred methods of working. The activity could lead to an explorative discussion of the various events and feelings in the client's life. It could also lead to an intermodal transfer where the client may be able to use color and image to create artwork about the feelings or experiences that came up in the writing segment. Alternatively, if the client listed many negative feelings in her life, then she might be inclined to creatively explore ways of tapping into sources of inner strength, such as artwork (or music, meditation, movement, etc.) with themes of hope, resilience, or love.

Ultimately, I believe that the heart-to-heart contact between human beings, whether that is between the client and the therapist, the client and the group, or the energy field of the whole group, is what enables the client to transform a stuck pattern. Perhaps the most important thing I do when I process an expressive arts therapy activity with a client is I allow myself to be genuinely moved by their work. If you truly look for what is beautiful, authentic, or meaningful in someone's creative expression, you will surely find it.By gazing at their work, listening closely, repeating back what I heard and sharing how it resonated with me, I am hoping to amplify the message conveyed in their work and let it fill the room. And whether they wrote one word or a long poem, made three dots on a page or a complex image, I find some way to communicate, through dialogue or silence, that I am grateful that they trusted me enough to share their process with me.